


What The Client Wants (He Does Not Get)

by notcrypticbutcoy



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: BAMF Alec, Bad clients, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Angst, Protective Alec, Tired Magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-01
Updated: 2016-05-01
Packaged: 2018-06-05 17:25:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6714046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcrypticbutcoy/pseuds/notcrypticbutcoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Alec comes home to Magnus passed out in the middle of his work, again, he decides that enough is enough. Magnus' client gets the full force of an angry, protective Shadowhunter when he comes knocking the next morning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What The Client Wants (He Does Not Get)

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Что клиент хочет (то он не получит)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11942235) by [fandom_Shadowhunters_2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandom_Shadowhunters_2017/pseuds/fandom_Shadowhunters_2017), [Teapot with treasures (Questie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Questie/pseuds/Teapot%20with%20treasures)



> So yet again I word-vomited 2k of Malec in about an hour in the dead of night. Oh well.

"Magnus," Alec said gently, shaking his boyfriend's shoulder. "Magnus, wake up."

Magnus stirred groggily. "Alec? What're you... You're home. What time is it?"

"Late. You should be in bed, not working."

Magnus groaned, and waved a dismissive hand. "It needs doing sometime."

Alec pursed his lips at that, but decided not to argue. Not because he didn't want to, but because he already had, and it hadn't helped the situation at all. He'd have to be more sneaky than that.

The first time this month he'd come home during the early hours of the morning to find Magnus asleep at his desk, he hadn't thought much of it. It happened, sometimes, to both of them. He'd woken him gently, led him into bed (making sure he didn't kill himself in the process) and made sure he'd slept decently.

Then it had happened again, a mere few days later. And again, this time when Alec was home and Magnus had claimed he'd come to bed in a few minutes. (Alec had woken at four in the morning to find the other side of the bed cold, and Magnus still fully clothed and barely awake.)

It had become a near-daily habit. They'd argued about it a few days ago. Alec was furious that Magnus was taking a job that, one, was for a client so demanding and full of unnecessary urgency he felt the need to deprive himself of sleep, and two, exhausted Magnus' supply of magic so regularly. Magnus had come out with that old refrain that made Alec storm into the bathroom, have a too-hot shower and knock over every single stupid shampoo bottle in there.

_What the client wants, Alexander, the client gets._

Fuck the client. No client was allowed to treat Magnus like some kind of machine.

"Come on," Alec said now, tugging Magnus up. The warlock stumbled against him, and Alec wrapped an arm firmly around his waist. "Bed."

He undressed Magnus quickly, then pushed him back onto the bed. Magnus didn't make any snide comments or innuendos; if anything was an indicator of Magnus' exhaustion, it was that.

Alec crawled into bed next to him, having stripped out of his gear, and let Magnus curl up to him in the feline way he always did when he was really tired. Alec, too, was tired, but he forced himself not to fall asleep until Magnus did.

He didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, Magnus' breathing had evened out, head tucked into the curve of Alec's neck, and the weary tension had left his shoulders.

"Magnus," Alec whispered, quietly. "Are you awake?"

Magnus didn't move. Alec pressed a kiss to his forehead, then disentangled himself and slid out of bed, walking round to where Magnus' phone sat on the nightstand. He ignored the picture of himself that greeted him when he turned the screen on, but flushed at the sight of the two of them laughing, arms around each other, that appeared once he'd keyed in Magnus' password (and the password was even more mortifying.)

He turned off the alarm Magnus had set for half past five in the morning (not even he got up that early) and then turned off the phone entirely for good measure.

As he padded back round to his side of the bed, Magnus shifted, and his eyes cracked open.

"Alec?"

"Shh." Alec leaned over and brushed a hand through his hair. "Go back to sleep."

"Are you leaving? Do you have to go?"

"No, Mags." He peeled back the duvet and sat down, swinging his legs in. "I just went to the bathroom."

"You're really cold," Magnus mumbled as he pressed himself back into Alec's side.

"This apartment is really cold. Now stop worrying and go to sleep. You're too tired to be worrying."

"Mm." Magnus didn't sound like he disagreed. He tightened his arms around Alec. "I don't want you to go."

"I'm not going anywhere. Promise. I turned my phone off. If they need me, they know where I am."

But Magnus was already asleep.

***

When Alec woke, it was early, and someone was banging on the door. He scowled. Half past seven on a Saturday was not a time to hammer on somebody's front door. It couldn't be anyone from the Institute, because he'd given Jace a key. Unless something had happened to Jace.

Magnus was still deeply asleep, snoring softly beside him. Alec spared him a gentle smile, kissed his cheek, then forced himself up and into sweatpants and a t-shirt.

"I'm coming!" he snapped once he'd closed their bedroom door. "Shut up!"

He yanked the door open, and glared down at the werewolf on the other side. It wasn't a wolf from Maia's pack, so he felt he could afford to be exceptionally rude to it.

"What?" he demanded.

The werewolf sneered at him. "I'm looking for Magnus Bane."

"Yeah, well. You've got me. What do you want?"

The werewolf looked past Alec. "Let me in."

"No."

"I am paying Magnus Bane to do his job! It's not done yet, and it should be! Now let me in!"

So this was the asshole who'd been working Magnus into the ground. Oh, he really shouldn't have come to the door this morning. Alec was so very tempted to break this guy's nose.

"We need to talk about that," Alec said cooly. "See, I don't know what exactly it is you're asking Magnus to do, but—"

"It's a very complex spell, Nephilim," the wolf snapped. "And it should have been done three days ago."

"No."

The werewolf stared at him. "What do you mean, no? I'm the client! I get what I pay for!"

"You pay for a reasonable service. Spells take time. You can't demand they be done at a snap of your fingers."

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Magnus' boyfriend. Part of my job is to make sure assholes like you don't demand he work so hard he makes himself sick. Please, go away, and Magnus will do your spell in a reasonable time. Don't come back here - don't even contact us - until we ask you to. Is that clear?"

"I want to speak to Magnus about this. I know he's in there."

"No," Alec said firmly. "Now please, leave."

"What the client wants, the client gets," the werewolf snapped. "I'm not leaving."

_Oh, fuck that. What the client wants the client gets, my ass._

Alec felt anger growing uncontrollably inside him. By the Angel, was this guy for real? He was practically begging Alec to punch him in the face. And, honestly, Alec would more than happily do so. People making his boyfriend sick were very, very high up his hit list.

Alec barred the doorway, making himself as large as possible to stop the werewolf coming any closer to Magnus. No way in hell was he letting Magnus be overworked on a Saturday, when he was finally sleeping, and had been for more than a couple of hours.

"Get out," Alec said.

"And if I say no?"

"I live here," Alec said cooly. "Which gives me every right to throw you out. Literally. I'm a Shadowhunter. Or have you forgotten what it is we do?"

"I'm not a demon. You can't kill me. You'd break the Accords."

"Why on earth would I kill you?" Alec demanded, very quickly losing patience. "My job is to keep peace and bring about justice. This isn't justice. This is inhumane. I'm sure Magnus will finish your spell, but it will not be done at a snap of your fingers. Besides, it's hardly going to be quality work if you're making him so tired he can barely stay awake while he's working, is it?"

The werewolf looked like he wanted to protest. Alec held his gaze, daring him to say something else.

"Fine," the werewolf said with a growl. "Fine. But I expect this to be impeccable work, Nephilim, for what I'm paying."

"I can guarantee you, it will be," he promised. He had every faith in Magnus' abilities, having witnessed some of Magnus' most spectacular magical endeavours in the few years he'd known the warlock. "Goodbye."

He slammed the door before the werewolf could get another word out. He listened for just a moment to make sure that he was actually gone. And not just biding his time before he'd start hammering away at their front door again, and then traipsed back to the bedroom, feeling suddenly very tired.

Magnus was still curled up in bed when Alec cracked open the door, but he was awake, watching the door with tired eyes and a smile on his lips. Alec stripped out of his sweatpants and t-shirt, flushing a little at Magnus' attention. He walked round to his side of the bed, and climbed back in.

Magnus rolled over, one arm sliding round his waist, chin resting on his chest. "That was an interesting way to wake up," Magnus commented, drawing lazy patterns across Alec's skin with a manicured fingernail.

"Oh? Why's that?" Alec asked.

"Well, waking up to your boyfriend yelling at the most unpleasant client in the world isn't quite a daily occurrence. And I got to find out a bit more about your job."

Alec frowned at him. "Magnus, you know what my job—"

"Your job as my boyfriend," Magnus said, correcting him before he'd even finished his sentence. "Hearing you defending me like that, all protective..." He grinned. "That was quite something, Alexander."

Alec felt his cheeks reddening again, but he smiled down at Magnus. "I'm glad."

"Hmm." Magnus reached up and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to Alec's lips that had his insides melting. "So, now you've got rid of my horrific client for me, can we go back to sleep for another six hours?"

Alec laughed, and carded a gentle hand through Magnus' hair. "Perhaps. You can. I might have to get coffee, because I'm not sure I'm capable of sleeping for that long."

"Nephilim," Magnus sighed. "Honestly. Fine. You can get your coffee, as long as you're here when I wake up. It's much nicer when I can cuddle you while I have to return to the land of the waking."

Alec felt his expression soften as Magnus words melted his heart. He dropped a kiss to the warlock's forehead, and said, "I think I can probably manage that."

"Good." Magnus snuggled further into him. "I want to pass out, now."

Alec held him tightly against the line of his body, trailing his fingers up and down Magnus' spine. Magnus arched back just slightly into the touch, and Alec pressed the palm of his hand gently between his boyfriend's shoulder blades. "Sleep, Magnus. You have absolutely nothing to wake up for."

"You," Magnus mumbled.

Alec smiled. "I'm right here."

"Mm."

Magnus didn't say anything more. Neither did Alec. Gradually, Magnus' breaths became more steady, deeper, and Alec felt his own eyes drooping, his hold on Magnus loosening a little, head falling more heavily into the pillow and tilting towards Magnus'.

Magnus would need to find a new stupid one-liner to annoy the fuck out of Alec. Because his current favourite had just been made redundant.

What the client wants, he does not get.


End file.
